Auchenstroan Coloured Ryelands

Today’s blog story is to tell you about my rug-making teaching adventures over the summer and about the new downloadable instructions I’ve created on how to make felted fleece rugs. I’ve been thinking about running rug-making workshops here on our smallholding for a few years now.  Then Covid happened and my plans went on hold.  […]

The harvest rush has been on in the last week. We already had collected what was left of the beetroot (see beetroot bother), but other fruit and veg were ready and needed picked before the pesky slugs had those too. The only things that seem to be safe are the tomatoes (polytunnel too dry for […]

Carrying on from last week’s story, Moving the Hens, we have both been busy installing and preparing the new area for the chicken coops. We call this ‘Hen Central’ because it’s where they eat, drink, sleep and lay their eggs. The big jobs this week were to install two new fences and put up a […]

This week we have been very busy moving the hen coops to a new part of the orchard.  This has been prompted by several things, but mainly it is down to Clippy. Clippy (the flock matriarch) has always been on the feral side.  She prefers to lay her eggs in a clump of grass rather […]

As we move into September, our thoughts turn to harvesting. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be collecting apples, tomatoes, carrots, cabbage and onions. We already have a nice crop of garlic drying in the kitchen. Normally, we leave the root crops, mainly turnip (swede outside Scotland) and beetroot in the ground and harvest them […]

Two weeks ago I wrote about how we’d started Elliot’s “hen training“.  Well it’s still going on, we’re taking things slowly because while Elliot is a natural livestock guardian and he’s great around the sheep, we weren’t sure how he’d behave around the hens.  Being a rescue dog it’s possible he’s had to scavenge small […]

If there’s one thing we have come to realise about our sheep over the years, it’s that they like their shelters. Their favourite is one we knocked up just after we moved here. It kind of resembles a low rise mass built bungalow and so has been nicknamed Brookside, after an old tv soap opera. […]

Now that the sheep have accepted Elliot and he can join us off-lead in amongst them, we have turned our attention to teaching him how to be around our hens.  The hens wander around freely in the orchard and up until now Elliot’s not been allowed into the orchard because of this.  The orchard is […]

I often get asked how I get my white rugs so clean so I thought it might be helpful to all you woolly crafters out there, if I shared my hints and tips with you. Most of the rugs I make come from Scotch Mule fleeces.  The Scotch Mule is traditionally creamy-white in colour with […]

Our chicks have had a purpose built predator proof run from when they were eggs. After they hatched, they had a couple of days to find their feet before being let out into the wider world. Each night, they returned in the early evening, had a quick meal of corn, and turned in for the […]

Monday 18th July I had a brilliant day today, this morning I was allowed off lead in amongst the sheep for the first time!  It was great to be able to walk down the hill with my pals free and easy without the lead getting in the way.  The sheep were walking to the wooden […]

The recent summer weather has been welcome for many reasons and, in particular, it has benefitted the hens. Unlike many birds, hens do not have waterproof feathers so when it rains, they prefer to stay under shelter. For young, keen to explore, bubbling with energy little chicks, that’s like being stuck in playpen with no […]